1.
Law clerk
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Judicial clerks often play significant roles in the formation of case law through their influence upon judges decisions. Judicial clerks should not be confused with legal clerks, court clerks, or courtroom deputies who only provide secretarial, Judicial clerks are generally recent law school graduates who performed at or near the top of their class. In some countries, judicial clerks are known as Judicial Associates or Judicial Assistants, in many nations, clerk duties are performed by permanent staff attorneys or junior apprentice-like judges, such as those that sit on Frances Conseil dÉtat. In English courts, they are known as Judicial Assistants, the European Court of Justice uses permanent staff attorneys and the Stagiaires. Australia, Canada, Sweden, and Brazil have notable clerk systems, most Canadian courts accept applications for judicial clerkships from graduating law students or experienced lawyers who have already been called to the Bar in Canada or abroad. Most provincial superior and appellate courts hire at least one clerk for each judge, typically students in their last two years of law school are eligible to apply for these positions, but increasingly, experienced practicing lawyers are also considered for these positions. The term typically lasts a year and generally fulfills the requirement for provincial law societies. The most prestigious clerkship available is with the countrys highest court, each Justice of the Supreme Court hires three clerks for a one-year period. The Federal Court of Appeal, which is based in Ottawa but hears cases across the country, selects 12 law clerks each year, the Federal Court also hires only one clerk per judge, or about 30 per year in total. The Court of Appeal for Ontario selects 17 law clerks, who serve one or two of the 24 Justices. The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan hires 3 clerks, each of whom are assigned to 2 to 3 judges, successful candidates for all clerkships are usually selected based on a distinguished academic record, academic recommendations, strong research and writing skills and interviews with judges. For both the Supreme Court of Canada and the Quebec Court of Appeal, being able to work in both English and French is strongly preferred, the Tax Court of Canada hires 12 clerks annually. Many law clerks have gone on to become leaders of the profession, mr. Justice Jean Cote of the Alberta Court of Appeal was one of the very first Supreme Court law clerks, serving as a clerk in the programs inaugural year. In England and Wales, law clerks are called Judicial Assistants and it is possible to be a Judicial Assistant at the Court of Appeal and at the UK Supreme Court. Only Supreme Court Judicial Assistants are appointed for a full-time, one fixed term appointment. Since 2006 they have taken part in a long exchange in Washington DC at the U. S. Supreme Court due to a friendship between Justice Antonin Scalia and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry. Sally Kenneys article on clerks, or Référendaires, on the European Court of Justice provides one detailed point of comparison, there are some major differences between ECJ clerks and their American counterparts, largely because of the way the ECJ is structured. One key difference is that ECJ clerks, while hired by individual judges and this gives ECJ clerks considerable expertise and power

2.
Supreme Court of the United States
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The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court of the United States. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is the interpreter of federal constitutional law. The Court normally consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight justices who are nominated by the President. Once appointed, justices have life tenure unless they resign, retire, in modern discourse, the justices are often categorized as having conservative, moderate, or liberal philosophies of law and of judicial interpretation. Each justice has one vote, and while many cases are decided unanimously, the Court meets in the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D. C. The Supreme Court is sometimes referred to as SCOTUS, in analogy to other acronyms such as POTUS. The ratification of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court in 1789 and its powers are detailed in Article Three of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is the court specifically established by the Constitution. The Court first convened on February 2,1790, by which five of its six initial positions had been filled. According to historian Fergus Bordewich, in its first session, he Supreme Court convened for the first time at the Royal Exchange Building on Broad Street and they had no cases to consider. After a week of inactivity, they adjourned until September, the sixth member was not confirmed until May 12,1790. Because the full Court had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was made by two-thirds. However, Congress has always allowed less than the Courts full membership to make decisions, under Chief Justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth, the Court heard few cases, its first decision was West v. Barnes, a case involving a procedural issue. The Courts power and prestige grew substantially during the Marshall Court, the Marshall Court also ended the practice of each justice issuing his opinion seriatim, a remnant of British tradition, and instead issuing a single majority opinion. Also during Marshalls tenure, although beyond the Courts control, the impeachment, the Taney Court made several important rulings, such as Sheldon v. Nevertheless, it is primarily remembered for its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which helped precipitate the Civil War. In the Reconstruction era, the Chase, Waite, and Fuller Courts interpreted the new Civil War amendments to the Constitution, during World War II, the Court continued to favor government power, upholding the internment of Japanese citizens and the mandatory pledge of allegiance. Nevertheless, Gobitis was soon repudiated, and the Steel Seizure Case restricted the pro-government trend, the Warren Court dramatically expanded the force of Constitutional civil liberties. It held that segregation in public schools violates equal protection and that traditional legislative district boundaries violated the right to vote

3.
Dean Acheson
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Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, Acheson helped design the Marshall Plan and was a key player in the development of the Truman Doctrine and creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Achesons most famous decision was convincing President Truman to intervene in the Korean War in June 1950 and he also persuaded Truman to dispatch aid and advisors to French forces in Indochina, though in 1968 he finally counseled President Lyndon B. Johnson to negotiate for peace with North Vietnam. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy called upon Acheson for advice, bringing him into the executive committee, Dean Gooderham Acheson was born in Middletown, Connecticut. Like his father, Acheson was a staunch Democrat and opponent of prohibition, Acheson attended Groton School and Yale College, where he joined Scroll and Key Society, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. At Groton and Yale he had the reputation of a partier and prankster, he was somewhat aloof, Achesons well-known, reputed arrogance—he disdained the curriculum at Yale as focusing on memorizing subjects already known or not worth knowing more about—was apparent early. At Harvard Law School from 1915 to 1918, however, he was swept away by the intellect of professor Felix Frankfurter, on May 15,1917, while serving in the National Guard, Acheson married Alice Caroline Stanley. She loved painting and politics and served as an influence throughout their enduring marriage. Frankfurter and Brandeis were close associates, and future Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter suggested that Brandeis take on Acheson, when Secretary William H. Woodin fell ill, Acheson suddenly found himself acting secretary despite his ignorance of finance. Because of his opposition to FDRs plan to deflate the dollar by controlling gold prices, he was forced to resign in November 1933, in 1939–1940 he headed a committee to study the operation of administrative bureaus in the federal government. Brought back as assistant secretary of state in 1941, Acheson implemented much of United States economic policy aiding Great Britain, Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets merely to disconcert them. He did not intend the flow of oil to Japan to cease, the president then departed Washington for Newfoundland to meet with Churchill. While he was gone Acheson used those frozen assets to deny Japan oil, upon the presidents return, he decided it would appear weak and appeasing to reverse the de facto oil embargo. In 1944, Acheson attended the Bretton Woods Conference as the delegate from the State department. At this conference the post-war international economic structure was designed, the conference was the birthplace of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the last of which would evolve into the World Trade Organization. And, as late as 1945 or 1946 Acheson sought détente with the Soviet Union, in 1946, as chairman of a special committee to prepare a plan for the international control of atomic energy, he wrote the Acheson–Lilienthal report. At first Acheson was conciliatory towards Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Unions attempts at regional hegemony in Eastern Europe and in Southwest Asia, however, changed Achesons thinking. From this point forward, one writes, Acheson was more than present at the creation of the Cold War

4.
Katherine L. Adams
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Kate Adams is an American attorney and corporate lawyer currently Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Honeywell International, the worlds biggest maker of cockpit electronics. A highly regarded top executive and the most senior woman at Honeywell, she reports directly to its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, at Honeywell, Adams is in charge of the organizations global legal strategy for its 128.000 workforce in more than 100 countries. Prior to joining Honeywell, Adams was a partner in the New York City office of the Chicago-based law firm Sidley Austin LLP. Additionally, in 2009, she was nominated for NJBIZs Best 50 Women in Business awards program which recognizes New Jerseys most dynamic. The program serves to highlight their contributions to business and the community and salutes their ability to overcome obstacles in non-traditional work environments

5.
Michelle Alexander
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Michelle Alexander is an associate professor of law at Ohio State Universitys Moritz College of Law, a civil rights advocate, and writer. She is best known for her 2010 book The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander was born on October 7,1967. She is the daughter of Sandra Alexander, formerly of Ashland, Oregon, and her mother was the senior vice president of the ComNet Marketing Group in Medford, Oregon, which solicits donations for nonprofit organizations. Her younger sister, Leslie Alexander, is a professor of African American Studies at Ohio State University and is the author of African or American, Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1784-1861. Alexander graduated from Vanderbilt University, where she received a Truman Scholarship and she received a law degree from the Stanford Law School. Alexander served for years as director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California. As an associate at Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak & Baller, she specialized in plaintiff-side class action suits alleging race, Alexander now holds a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State. Alexander has litigated numerous class action cases and worked on criminal justice reform issues. She is a recipient of a 2005 Soros Justice Fellowship of the Open Society Institute, Alexander published her first book The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness in 2010. She considers the scope and impact of current law enforcement. Her book concentrates on the incarceration of African-American men. In The New Jim Crow, Alexander argues that mass incarceration in America functions as a system of control in a similar way to how Jim Crow once operated. Alexander writes, “Race plays a major role-indeed, a defining role – in the current system and this system of control depends far more on racial indifference than racial hostility – a feature it actually shares with its predecessors. Alexanders The New Jim Crow analyzes some of the factors she argues contribute to the new, in a 2012 interview, Alexander told the story of the origin of the book. Listening to his story, Alexander increasingly felt she had the test case for which she was looking, in turn, the man then built a strong anger toward her, saying in effect Im innocent. It was just a plea bargain, and that she was no better than the police and he ended by stalking out, tearing up his notes as he went. The experience stuck with Alexander and eventually grew, prompted in part by more observations of events in Oakland and she has tried to find the young man again, in part to dedicate the book to him, but has so far been unable to. The New Jim Crow was re-released in paperback in early 2012 and has received significant praise, as of March 2012 it had been on The New York Times Best Seller list for 6 weeks and it also reached number 1 on the Washington Post bestseller list in 2012

6.
William Haskell Alsup
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William Haskell Alsup is a United States federal judge. He was a law clerk to Justice William O. Douglas of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1971 to 1972, Alsup was in private practice in San Francisco, California from 1972 to 1978, and was then an Assistant to the U. S. Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice from 1978 to 1980 and he returned to his private practice in San Francisco from 1980 to 1998, when he briefly served as a special counsel in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice in 1998. He was again in practice in San Francisco from 1998 to 1999. On March 24,1999, Alsup was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Thelton Eugene Henderson. Alsup was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 30,1999, Alsup was the presiding judge over Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc. where he notably has been able to comment on issues relating to coding and programming languages, specifically Java. He learned the Java programming language solely for the purpose of being able to understand the more clearly. However, the Federal Circuit overturned his rejection of the copyrightability of Java API,2013, Tara L. Riedley Barristers Choice Award, Bar Association of San Francisco 2013, Award of recognition from Lewis and Clark Law School. William Haskell Alsup at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center

7.
Samuel Bagenstos
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Bagenstoss work is in civil rights law, especially disability rights. He is the author of Law and the Contradictions of the Disability Rights Movement, Bagenstos graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1990, and then received his J. D. in 1993 from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude. He received the Fay Diploma and was Articles Office Co-Chair for the Harvard Law Review and he clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit for one year, and then joined the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice. He served as Law Clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U. S. Supreme Court in the 1997/1998 Term and he has been a member of the faculty of Harvard Law School, and a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law and Michigan Law School. He was a professor of law from 2004 to 2009 at Washington University in St. Louis, as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Bagenstos supervised the Civil Rights Divisions appellate work, disability rights enforcement, and other matters. He has also focused on ensuring that emerging technologies are accessible to people with disabilities, Bagenstos has been married to Margo Schlanger since 1998. Remarks by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Samuel R

8.
Stewart Baker
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Stewart Abercrombie Baker was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the United States Department of Homeland Security under the Presidency of George W. Bush. Earlier in his career, Baker was Law Clerk to John Paul Stevens and he also clerked for Frank M. Coffin, United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit and Shirley Hufstedler, US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. He was in practice with the Washington, DC-based law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP from 1981 to 1992. Baker currently writes the blog Skating on Stilts, a book based on the blog, Skating on Stilts, Why We Arent Stopping Tomorrows Terrorism, was published in June 2010. Baker is married to Anne Kornhauser Baker and they have three children and three grandchildren and live in northern Virginia. Baker was born on July 17,1947 in Poughkeepsie, New York and he is the son of Henry Irving Baker, Jr. and Ruth Baker. Bakers father died when he was young, and his mother moved the family to Dearborn, Michigan. Baker attended public school in Dearborn. Baker obtained his bachelors degree from Brown University in 1969 and he graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1975. While in law school, he published A Strict Scrutiny of the Right to Travel in the UCLA Law Review and he also served as an intern law clerk to Shirley Hufstedler, U. S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Following his graduation from law school in 1976, Baker clerked for Frank M. Coffin, United States Court of Appeals, in 1979, Baker became Deputy General Counsel, Special Assistant to Secretary Shirley Hufstedler, United States Department of Education. He served in this position until 1981, in 1981, Baker joined Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Baker stayed with Steptoe & Johnson LLP until appointed in 1992 by President George H. W. Bush to serve as General Counsel to the National Security Agency, Baker was awarded the Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service in 1994. Following his two-year stint at the National Security Agency, Baker returned to practice at Steptoe & Johnson. His practice at the firm concentrated on issues related to privacy, national security, computer security, electronic surveillance, encryption, digital commerce, and export controls. The Court also took note of Bakers able representation after appointing him to defend the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Becker v. Montgomery. After the September 11,2001 attacks, in 2003, Baker testified before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. His testimony noted, Baker advocated for use of modern technology for tracking terrorists, including the use of electronic surveillance

9.
Scott Bales
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W. Scott Bales is the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court in 2005 by Governor Janet Napolitano and he was retained for a six-year term in 2008. He was elected by his fellow justices as Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court and he replaced Justice Rebecca White Berch as Chief Justice. He graduated from Harvard University with an M. A. in Economics in 1980, Bales earned his J. D. Magna Cum Laude, from Harvard Law School in 1983. While at Harvard Law School, he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review, following law school, Bales clerked for the Office of the Solicitor General in 1983. He went on to clerk for Judge Joseph T. Sneed III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, from 1984 to 1985 he clerked for Associate Justice Sandra Day OConnor of the United States Supreme Court. Following his clerkships, Justice Bales went into practice at the Phoenix law firm of Meyer, Hendricks, Victor. Justice Bales then served as Solicitor General for the State of Arizona from 1999 to 2001 and he returned to private practice as a partner at Lewis and Roca from 2001 until his appointment to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2005. Justice Bales was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2005 by Governor Janet Napolitano and he was retained for a six-year term in 2008 with more than 77 percent of Arizona voters casting ballots in favor of his retention in office. He was elected by his fellow justices as Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court and he replaced Justice Rebecca White Berch as Chief Justice. He was once again retained by Arizona voters in 2014 with just over 73% of the vote, Justice Bales was elected to the American Law Institute in 2007 and was elected to the ALI Council in 2014. He serves as an Adviser on the Principles of Election Law, Resolution of Election Disputes, cheatham v. DiCiccio in which the court upheld release time for member of the police union against a challenge by the Goldwater Institute. Justice Bales and Justice Robert M. Brutinel dissented from the majority in the 2016 case State v. Holle, Justice Bales argued that under the states child molestation law parents could be charged for simple acts like changing a diaper. Fordham University law professor John Pfaff wrote of the decision, “If I owned a day care centerI’d be closing down. Justice Sandra Day OConnor, No Insurmountable Hurdles,58 Stan, the Ninth Circuit, Should It Stay or Should It Go. 34 U. C. Davis L. Rev.379 Turning the Microscope Back on Forensic Scientists,26 Litigation 51

10.
Michael Barr (Treasury official)
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Michael S. Barr is the Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and Professor of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Previously he served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions of the U. S. Treasury Department and he returned to Treasury during the first two years of the Barack Obama administration, after which he returned to his teaching post at Michigan. He is a non-resident scholar at the Brookings Institution and serves as an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative and he has served as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. University of Michigan Law School faculty page

11.
Yochai Benkler
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Yochai Benkler is an Israeli-American author and the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, from 1984 to 1987, Benkler was a member and treasurer of the Kibbutz Shizafon. He received his LL. B. from Tel-Aviv University in 1991 and he worked at the law firm Ropes & Gray from 1994–1995. He clerked for U. S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer from 1995 to 1996, Benkler is the last person to clerk for a U. S. Supreme Court justice without having prior judicial clerkship experience. He was a professor at New York University School of Law from 1996 to 2003, in 2007, Benkler joined Harvard Law School, where he teaches and is a faculty co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Benkler is on the board of the Sunlight Foundation. In 2011, his research led him to receive the $100,000 Ford Foundation Social Change Visionaries Award, Benklers research focuses on commons-based approaches to managing resources in networked environments. He coined the term commons-based peer production to describe collaborative efforts based on sharing information, such as free and open source software, Wikipedia, Creative Commons, Open Source Software and the blogosphere are among the examples that Benkler draws upon. The term was first introduced in his seminal paper Coases Penguin, or, Linux and it is described in more technical terms as social-psychological component of the reward to support monetary appropriation by others or. Where one agent is jealous of the rewards of another, Benkler appeared in the documentary film Steal This Film, which is available through Creative Commons. He discussed various issues, including, how the changing cost structures in film, Benkler is a strong proponent of Wikileaks, characterizing it as a prime example of non-traditional media filling a public watchdog role left vacant by traditional news outlets. In August 2011, Benkler was a speaker at the Wikimania conference in Haifa. That same August, Benklers latest book on social cooperation online and off, titled The Penguin, Benkler discussed this book at a lecture given at Harvard on October 18,2011. Benkler contributed the essay Complexity and Humanity to the Freesouls book project, Wikipedia 1, Hobbes 0, Benklers chair lecture at Harvard Law, as reported in the Harvard Law Record From Consumers to Users, Shifting the Deeper Structures of Regulation. Toward Sustainable Commons and User Access Roberts, Russ, Benkler on Net Neutrality, Competition, and the Future of the Internet

12.
Francis Biddle
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Biddle was born in Paris, France, while his family was living abroad. He was one of four sons of Frances Brown and Algernon Sydney Biddle and he graduated from Groton School, where he participated in boxing. He earned degrees from Harvard University in 1909 and 1911 and he first worked as a private secretary to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. from 1911 to 1912. He spent the next 27 years practicing law in Philadelphia, in 1912, he supported the presidential candidacy of former U. S. President Theodore Roosevelts renegade Bull Moose Party. He was also served briefly during World War I as a private the United States Army from October 23 to November 30,1918 and he served as special assistant to the U. S. attorney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1922 to 1926. Beginning in the 1930s, Biddle was appointed to a number of important governmental roles, in 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him to be chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. On February 9,1939, Roosevelt nominated Biddle to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Biddle was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 28,1939, and received his commission on March 4,1939. He only served one year before resigning on January 22,1940 and this also turned out to be a short-lived position when Roosevelt nominated him to the position of Attorney General of the United States in 1941. S. During World War II, Biddle used the Espionage Act of 1917 to attempt to shut down vermin publications and this included Father Coughlins publication entitled Social Justice. Biddle has also credited with the creation of what became known later as the Attorney Generals List of Subversive Organizations, in fact. In the Biddle List, eleven front groups originating in the Communist Party of the United States of America were singled out as being subversive, Biddle responded that the Germans were not entitled to have access to civilian courts due to their status as unlawful combatants. This decision was upheld in Ex parte Quirin where the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the commission created to try the Germans was lawful. On August 3,1942, all eight were found guilty, five days later, six of the eight were executed in the electric chair on the third floor of the District of Columbia jail. The other two were given prison terms as they turned over their comrades to the FBI. In 1948, both men were released from prison and returned to Germany, although Biddle opposed Japanese-American internment during the war, he succumbed to political expediency and eventually supported the policy, and was haunted by it for years afterward. At President Harry S. Trumans request, he resigned after Roosevelts death, shortly after, Truman appointed Biddle as a judge at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Biddles successor, Tom Clark told the story that Biddle, who wore spats, was the first government official whose resignation Truman sought, and that it was quite a difficult task. Biddle was amused by Trumans stammering, but after it was over, he threw his arm around the President and said, See, Harry, in 1947, he was nominated by Truman as the American representative on the United Nations Economic and Social Council

13.
Charles A. Blanchard (lawyer)
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Charles Alan Blanchard is a United States lawyer who served as General Counsel of the Army from 1999 to 2001, and who has served as General Counsel of the Air Force, from 2009 to 2013. Charles A. Blanchard was born in San Diego, California in 1959 and he was educated at Lewis & Clark College, receiving a B. S. in Chemistry in 1981. He then attended Harvard Law School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, in 1987, Blanchard joined the United States Office of the Independent Counsel as an Associate Independent Counsel. The next year, he joined the law firm of Brown and Bain in Phoenix, Blanchard left Brown and Bain in 1997 to become Chief Legal Counsel of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 1999, President of the United States Bill Clinton nominated him to be General Counsel of the Army and he then returned to his practice at Brown and Bain in Phoenix. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated him to be General Counsel of the Air Force and he held that office from 2009 to 2013

14.
Jeff Bleich
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Jeffrey Laurence Jeff Bleich is an American lawyer and diplomat from California, and a partner at the law firm of Dentons in San Francisco. Bleich served as ambassador from 2009 to 2013, after stepping down from his post, he returned to the United States and is now a partner and group CEO at Dentons. He also serves as Chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, Bleich was born on a U. S. Army base in Germany and grew up in the U. S. state of Connecticut. He graduated from Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut, Bleich graduated from Amherst College magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1983. At Harvard Bleich went to the John F. Kennedy School of Government as a 1986 John F. Kennedy Fellow, Bleich attended the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and received his J. D. in 1989. He was editor-in-chief of the California Law Review and Order of the Coif, in May 2011, Bleich was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from San Francisco State University. In 2014, Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia awarded him the honorary Degree of Doctor of the University and he was legal assistant to Judge Howard M. Holtzmann of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal at The Hague from 1991 to 1992. He received a Certificate of Study in Public and Private International Law from the Hague Academy of International Law, Bleich joined the Los Angeles-headquartered firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in 1992, and was made partner three years later, in December 1995. His practice there was focused primarily on civil litigation, with emphasis on complex litigation, appellate practice, media law, communications law. He was president of the San Francisco Bar Association in 2003, Bleich served as president of the State Bar of California from 2007 to 2008. Bleich was elected to the American Law Institute in 2003 and served as chair of the American Bar Association Amicus Curiae Committee from 2006-2009 and he also served on an ABA subcommittee on corporate social responsibility and on the ABA Section on International Law. Bleich was a member of the board of trustees of California State University and he served as vice chair from 2006 to 2008 and as chair from 2008 to 2009. During the Clinton administration, Bleich served as director of the White House Council on Youth Violence, formed during the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre. Bleich met Barack Obama almost 20 years before Bleich was nominated to become U. S. Ambassador to Australia, Bleich was in attendance during Obamas keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and shared breakfast with him two days later. During Obamas 2008 presidential campaign, Bleich was a member and co-chair of Obamas national finance committee, co-chair of Obamas higher education advisory board. He donated to Hillary Clinton and raised funds for her to retire her campaigns debt after the Democratic primary, Bleich joined the White House team in March 2009. Among his tasks was to address confirmation and personnel issues and to advise on other sensitive matters and he moderated a discussion on human rights in the new administration at the 2009 American Bar Associations Section of International Law Spring Meeting in April 2009. The Senate confirmed Bleich to be United States Ambassador to Australia in a vote on November 10,2009

15.
Richard Blumenthal
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Richard Dick Blumenthal /ˈbluːmənˌθɑːl/ is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut, in office since 2011. Previously, he served as Attorney General of Connecticut from 1991 to 2011 and he is a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Blumenthal attended Riverdale Country School, Blumenthal is a graduate of Harvard College, where he was editorial chairman of The Harvard Crimson. He studied for a year at Trinity College, Cambridge in England before attending Yale Law School, while at Yale, he was a classmate of future President Bill Clinton and future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. From 1970 to 1976, Blumenthal served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, after college, Blumenthal served as administrative assistant and law clerk for several Washington figures. From 1977 to 1981, he was United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, in the early 1980s he worked in private law practice, including serving as volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 1987 and he was elected state Attorney General in 1990, and served for twenty years. During this period he was speculated as a contender for Governor of Connecticut. Blumenthal announced his 2010 run for U. S. Senate after Democrat incumbent Chris Dodd announced his retirement and he faced professional wrestling magnate Linda McMahon in the general election, winning by a 12-point margin with 55 percent of the vote. On January 5,2011, he was sworn in and took seats on the Senate Armed Services, Judiciary, Aging and he became the senior senator after the retirement of Joe Lieberman. Blumenthal was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jane and Martin Blumenthal and his mother was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to a Jewish family that originated in Prussia and Baden. His grandfather, Fred Fritz Rosenstock, raised cattle on his farm, Blumenthals father was a German Jew who emigrated alone at age 17 from Frankfurt in 1935. Blumenthal attended Riverdale Country School in the Bronx before graduating from Harvard College with a A. B. magna cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, as an undergraduate, he was editorial chairman of The Harvard Crimson. Blumenthal was an intern reporter for The Washington Post in the London Bureau. Blumenthal was also selected for a Fiske Fellowship that allowed him to study at the University of Cambridge in England for one year after graduation from Harvard College. In 1973, Blumenthal received his J. D. from Yale Law School, while at Yale, he was classmates with future President Bill Clinton and future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. One of his co-editors on the Yale Law Journal was future United States Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and his brother, David Blumenthal, is the President of the Commonwealth Fund. Blumenthal received several draft deferments during the Vietnam War before enlisting and he served in United States Marine Corps Reserve units in Washington, D. C. and Connecticut from 1970 to 1976